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Comment by inkaudio | Hacker News Reader

The author has a unique perspective, but for the majority of new yorkers this is simply not the case. Internet and cell phone access is not available underground, and most of the NYC subway line is underground. it's not safe to use or show your expensive anything on most of the subway lines. Majority of the stations are very dirty, cars are just tolerable. During rush hours NYC subway riders are packed like sardines in the subway cars .... Here is a blog that gives a different side of the story : http://gybria.blogspot.com/2007/10/packed-like-sardines-in-p...

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> Internet and cell phone access is not available underground, and most of the NYC subway line is underground.

I have no trouble reading a book on my iPhone on the subway. The ride just isn't long enough to make having internet access an issue.

> it's not safe to use or show your expensive anything on most of the subway lines.

During the day, almost everyone has a smart phone out. I've never had a problem, never expect to.

>Majority of that stations are very dirty, cars are just tolerable.

The cars are generally quite clean, and air conditioned. The stations can be dirty, but no more than the street is. You're not supposed to be licking the floor ...

> During rush hours NYC subway riders stuff like sardines in the...let me find a picture

Depends on the line and how much of a rush you're in yourself. Either way, there's room to read.

3000$ laptop, are you crazy?! Mine is less than half that price, that is new. Get a linux netbook for half the price of a cell phone if that's a concern.

Nobody steals anything from Russians on the subway because some Russians carry guns :)

Russians that carry guns dont take subway.

+1 for speaking with a Russian accent omitting the "the" before "subway"

Sorry, looks like you replied before I edited down my comment. I mentioned $3000 laptops (and how unwise it is to pull one out); Occasionally I see a tourist with:

* A MacBook Pro balanced precariously on their lap.

* Sitting right next to the door.

* ... where someone could simply snatch the laptop and bolt out the doors just before they close.

You have some interesting points, I won't argue about because my post a response to what blog was about. But I must disagree with you on the matter of cleanness, just the look of things alone is disgusting and yes the streets of NYC is dirty and in many cases disgusting. The cars like I said in most cases are tolerable as long as you're not in on someone just urinated in. This probably happens once everyday ( primarily on lines from the outer boroughs) because some people make the subway cars their room and toliet.

Is NY really that dirty? I visited for the first time in a couple years last month, and given all I've heard, I found it surprisingly clean (about the same level of cleanliness as SF, where I live).

I'd say it's pretty dirty. The subways are disgusting and the streets often have trash strewn about. SF is certainly not that much better (though the BART stations are far cleaner).

I've been to a number of major US cities, and lived in 4, and NY is by far the dirtiest city I've seen outside the third world. The sanitation system is non-existent. There are no alley ways or trash bins, so there are just bags of garbage littering the streets. It's surreal.

Seattle and many other cities have parks spread across the whole city, and one central trash dump. In Manhattan, vice versa.

Not true. I lived in both Seattle downtown and Eastside. Just in the 15 streets around Union Square area there's the Union Square, Thompkins Square, Gramercy, Madison and Washington Square parks plus at least ten smaller parks or playgrounds. Try to find a green playground in Seattle downtown.

> During the day, almost everyone has a smart phone out. I've never had a problem, never expect to.

This pretty much summed up my feeling about crime on the subway until I got mugged in a full train during normal commuting hours. One mugging does not a crime wave make, of course, but apparently grand larcenies on the subway are up 18% in New York year over year:

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/04/21/iphones-fuel-spik...

>it's not safe to use or show your expensive anything on most of the subway lines.

Are you talking about Manhattan or, like, the deep Bronx? I always have my iPhone out on the train, all over Manhattan, including late at night, and I've never had a problem. I generally feel safe just about anywhere I go in Manhattan.

This is much more what I've seen in visits and heard from friends.

Very few places in NY would this be true (but it is true for many other US cities with rapid transit).

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